Here’s our fantasy premier league GW5 tips article where we give our early thoughts on the FFGeek team for GW5. We look back at gameweek 4, the player outlist and monitor list, transfer thoughts plus early captain thinking
fantasy premier league GW5 tips – some early thoughts on the FFGeek team
Gameweek 4
Here’s my GW4 team selection article btw
GW4 points: 56 (average 44) Total points 284, Gameweek rank 884k, Overall Rank: 40k, green arrow 19k, Team Value: £101.5m
Here’s the points:
A surprisingly good week with a 19k green arrow to a 40k overall rank
So any green arrow has to be pleasing as is a gameweek rank within a million. 7 returning players is far more than you can hope for even if none were double figures.
However, the Walcott transfer was a disaster. Not only did he go off in the 59th minute or so but now he’s an injury risk. There was always an element of unknown about him as last season there was the Big Sam excuse and this season although 2 of the 3 games had poor underlying stats they were both games with Everton sending offs which clouded the issue. Well his performance pre injury v Huddersfield was a definite poor one and the same can be said for the Everton team.
I talked about a potential -4 for Alonso in as well as getting rid of Charlie Austin for a probably non playing striker. In the end I got away with it as Alonso got 9 points but Luiz got 8 so it worked out. However after seeing the highlights I definitely had luck on my side Alonso could easily have scored as well. He’s definitely coming in this week.
I haven’t seen highlights of the game but United getting a clean sheet was a definite bonus. Their xG against wasn’t great though so everything is definitely not sorted but it’s worth remembering that Shaw is only £5.0m so it’s not like holding someone you have serous doubts over at £6.0m.
No clean sheets for Man City or Liverpool was disappointing although both players got attacking returns.
Aguero was a bit disappointing again and the last 2 games his shooting stats haven’t been that great but still nothing I’m personally worried about yet.
Salah was very unlucky not to return although it was one of those situations where had he scored then the fact that he wasn’t my captain could have meant that it would have had a negative impact on my overall rank. So blanking but posting good stats is as much as you can hope for.
Mane scoring neutralised the Hazard goal which was another worry going into the game. Hazards attacking output was okish and his FPL owners have yet another Begovic howler to thank for the points. Obviously that goal for Hazard led to the customary 3 bonus points which is pretty par for the course every time he returns. Interestingly though Mane also got 3 and he’s now got 8 which was his total for the entire season in 17/18. Even better was the fact that Firmino only got the 1 despite scoring as he is normally the bonus point hooverer in the Liverpool team.
I had the bizarre experience on Sunday of watching the Arsenal game willing Mkhitaryan to come on as sub as without him doing that I would have got Austins -1 point for missing a pen.
The outlist and the monitor list
Austin is on the outlist still but the only definite 1.
Mkhitaryan after being sub is on the monitor list. The Lacazette/Aubameyang thing worked well for Arsenal so that means he is now in direct competition with Ozil only I suspect. Ozil is a player I like and last season only De Bruyne had better assist based underlying stats when on the pitch. However this season he’s totally gone to pieces and has blanked in all 3 games and barely had any attacking output.
Walcott is on the monitor list due to potential injury although he’s still to be assessed. Similar position for Zaha.
There’s special mention for Luiz here as he will probably be the player going out to get Alono next week irrespective of any other injury issues I may have. Going into the Cardiff game without him seems a pretty risky proposition after watching the Bournemouth game.
Transfer options
2 free transfers £0.3m in the bank.
Probably Luiz out for Alonso and then either Walcott or Zaha being the sacrifice depending on injury news. If both are fit then it will most likely be Austin who goes. The options though are poor as far as Austin are concerned as it would lead to a non playing forward. That wouldn’t be helpful especially if Gunnarson either doesn’t get fit or doesn’t get into the side for a 2 point appearance off the bench if needed.
Whatever the situation I’m not wildcarding. There’s just not enough reliable information. Even with a bad injury situation this can happen at anytime in the season. Injuries and rotation are now more common than ever before it seems. It now means that reactive transfers are the norm and you either take hits to do pro active transfers or they go to the back of the queue.
I also won’t be making an early transfer unless some definite news comes out saying that Walcott or Zaha are out for a decent spell. I’ll obviously do an article in the instance that I do an early transfer.
Captain thoughts
Aguero at home to Fulham or Salah at Spurs is a fairly easy choice. Apparently neither Aguero or Jesus are in their squads for the International Break which is hopeful for Pep contuning the 2 striker system at home. It will be interesting to see the polls and how many people are going Hazard home to Cardiff which will be my big ranking risk.
The lineup before transfers
Here it is. For the moment make the sweeping assumptions that Luiz is Alonso, Walcott and Zaha are fit for GW5 and Austin is replaced by someone like Kamara
The main lineup dilemma is Shaw vs Wan Bissaka. While I imagine this may not be an issue depending on injuries at the moment I’ve gone for Palace rather than Man Utd keeping the clean sheet. The Palace defence is definitely worse off for Kelly instead of Tomkins but I just can’t see a United clean sheet.
That’s it. Hope you had a good gameweek
Follow us on twitter and facebook for article updates and news
Geek League links and details
Enter PIN: 8367679
League PIN is SGDKX9Y3
Telegraph free to enter £100 prize League PIN 8000919 Passcode 0417
Telegraph £2 cash league League PIN 8161359 Passcode 0050
